A plain-English overview of legal issues that affect creatives and creators, as understood by someone who works in the business. Posts aren't legal advice, my employer isn't responsible for what I say, subscribe if you like what you see.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Am I the only one in the world who thinks the Blurred Lines judgment is right? From the Internet, it sure seems that way.Robin Thicke
and Pharrell Williams broke into jail here. From a litigator's perspective I
have no hesitation in saying they are reaping what they sowed. "Blurred
Lines" ended up in court when Pharrell and Thicke sued the estate of Marvin Gaye for a declaratory judgment, which
is where you ask a judge to say "this thing you claim isn't true". And
from a copyright lawyer's perspective I say this is a judgment that
shows you can create a derivative work of something without actually
incorporating that work.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Up early on New Year's Day. Starting the "outline" (by which I mean random thoughts) for my book that I'll write this year.

The working title, which anyone who took my Entertainment Law class in 2012 or 2013 will recall, is The California Civil War. It's on the desire for entertainment content companies (Southern California) to ensure that the Internet content pipelines (Northern California) behave in the ways that Southern CA has found so mutually profitable in the past, why Northern CA is fighting back (foreshadowing: it's because of their business model), and why the way it's likely to end won't be in the best interests of consumers.

Put another way: it's a view from the inside of both the content creation and distribution industry on why the future of the entertainment content that you want to see won't likely be the one you want to see.

About Me

I'm an adjunct professor of Entertainment Law at the University of Washington and the General Counsel of The Pokémon Company International. Before being at Pokémon I was the head lawyer for Microsoft Game Studios. I write a legal blog with practical tips for creators and creatives at www.legalminimum.net and tweet from @LegalMinimum. I'm also a failed standup comic and once narrated romance novel books on tape. So there's that.

Mandatory weasel words: I'm not your personal attorney and I'm not creating an attorney-client relationship with you when you read my posts. If you need specialized legal advice, go hire someone. And my employer isn't responsible for what I say.